


For a Moment

by cynthia_arrow (thesilverarrow)



Category: Firefly
Genre: F/M, Kissing, Yep that's it
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-02-20
Updated: 2015-02-20
Packaged: 2018-03-14 00:23:37
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 926
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/3401624
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/thesilverarrow/pseuds/cynthia_arrow
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>
  <i>It wasn't his being gone that made her insane, knowing he was in peril; it was the seeing him come back.</i>
</p>
            </blockquote>





	For a Moment

**Author's Note:**

> Comment fic ported from livejournal of yore.

There was a reason why Inara preferred to be gone when he was on one of his dangerous missions. That reason was actually quite simple: it made her irrational. For a moment, anyway.  
  
It wasn't his being gone that made her insane, knowing he was in peril; it was the seeing him come back, realizing he was still in one piece and he could go on being the stubborn, crazy person he had been since the day she met him. It was true he wanted to change her, but she wondered if he knew how often she wanted to change him, at least have him in some other line of work, as long as he could still be Mal. Because, honestly? She liked Mal. Most of the time.  
  
At any rate, she generally preferred to be well out of sight when the merry or more often not so merry band returned, caked with dust and blood and often trailing angry people in their wake. So it was a particular problem one day when he caught her off guard, waltzing into the hold several hours early and laying his gun on one of their shipping containers and sighing.  
  
"Gorram double-crossing…" he muttered. Then he looked up and saw her sitting on the catwalk, watching the life of that small hub planet trickle by. "What the sam hell…?"  
  
"Thought you'd be gone still," she said, making a move to stand.  
  
He waved at her to stay. Then he ruffled his hand through his hair, sending a shower of dirt onto the floor. When he looked up at her again, he smiled, and there wasn't a hint of mischief or defensiveness in it, not for a moment, anyway, before he pulled off his boots, left them in a heap with his coat, and began thudding his way up the stairs.  
  
Unexpectedly, he sat down beside her and let his legs dangle over, too.   
  
After he watched what she was watching outside for a moment, he said, "This what you do while I'm gone? Sit here frettin' over me?"  
  
"Should I?" she said, raising an eyebrow.  
  
"Not today," he replied with a grin. Then he fished something out of his pocket, flashing it in front of her eyes before he pocketed it again, as if she would know it meant anything other than he had, once again, been a very successful criminal. "Admit it. You missed me."  
  
"Not time enough for that, was there?"  
  
He snorted, then he made a move to get up, but she didn't want him to go, so she let herself do it: she grabbed him by the bicep and pulled him around, kissing him full on the lips. He tasted of dirt and sweat, but that was easily overwhelmed by the unexpectedly sweet taste of his mouth as he parted his lips and let her deepen the kiss for a moment before she drew back with a final brush of her lips over his.  
  
As she did so, she kept her eyes on his, which were narrowed with confusion. He didn't speak, just breathed evenly and started at her.   
  
So she said, "This is where you say something."  
  
"Yeah?"   
  
"You know, like ask me what in the hell I'm doing."  
  
He smiled, honestly one of the more adorable smiles she'd ever seen, and he had a lot. "Are you crazy?" he said. "I know how often my big mouth gets me in trouble with you. I mean, not that this is trouble. Or maybe it is. Is this—?"  
  
She kissed him again, just for being Mal. But it did indeed work to shut him up. Once again, he let her control the kiss, but just until she drew back her lips a little and invited him to be the aggressor. Dangerous, that, because what he lacked in skill with his tongue, he made of for many times over in the way he didn't at all kiss her like he was kissing a companion, neither trying to impress her nor behaving as though he didn't care whether he did. All the intensity she normally found in his eyes and even his walk was bound up in quick, soft movements of his tongue against hers, his lips rolling thick and heavy and just wet enough against her lips, then in long, deep kisses that left her wanting air, not because she couldn't handle herself; she just couldn't handle him.  
  
Inara pulled her lips away with a gasp, but his hands slid around her neck, holding her there so that she leaned her forehead against his, eyes closed, listening to and feeling him breathe.   
  
He didn't say a word as he finally pulled her face back away from his, just gave her one last peck, smiled, breathed out a hard, quick sigh, and let her go. Then he thrust out his arms behind him—not to stand up but to lay back, has legs still dangling over the side.   
  
She pressed her forehead into the bar in front of her and resisted the urge to look over at him as she made herself calm down. She might've been bewildered, except she was so amused at finding that she was capable of making some changes in the man after all, however subtle.   
  
Because, as it turns out, Inara was capable of rendering Mal Reynolds utterly silent.  _But not_ , she thought as irrationality stretched out a little longer than a moment, out through her hands clenched around the bars and into the flushed smile on her face,  _without a price._


End file.
